


Nothing Holding Me Back

by Akiragane



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Even though this isn't coming out in June, F/M, Fluff and Smut and like the smallest amount of Angst, In my Christian Minecraft Sever?, M/M, Mentions of Suicide/Attempted Suicide, friends to lovers?, pride month fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27539329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiragane/pseuds/Akiragane
Summary: Natsu knows his best friend. At least that's what he'd like to think.He knows Gray can stand in below 0 weather for hours without getting cold, he knew he preferred dogs over cats, he knew he would rather drink hot chocolate than coffee, and he knew he liked to strum on the guitar and sing a little, even if he wasn't very good at it.Natsu thought he knew everything about his friend, but when Lucy pointed out a leave of absence Gray's been taking every year in June, he starts to learn he really doesn't know him at all.
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will most likely end up being really quick and was just something I came up with that I needed to get out.

Natsu and Gray had known each other since they were little. Granted, they absolutely hated each other at first. But eventually, that heated rivalry eventually turned into a kind of friendly bickering now and then. Of course, they fought with each other, what person in a healthy friendship wouldn't? But they always got over it quickly.

Sure, Gray was an asshole, but that didn't mean Natsu didn't love him.

In a brotherly way, though. They weren't, y'know, _together_. That would be weird.

There were a lot of things they shared with each other, and Natsu liked to think he knew everything about him. He knows Gray can stand in below 0 weather for hours without getting cold, he knew he preferred dogs over cats, he knew he would rather drink hot chocolate than coffee, and he knew he liked to strum on the guitar and even sing a little, even if he wasn't very good at it.

Natsu was even there for Gray for the multiple times when he thought he wasn't good enough, when he was ready to end everything, to sacrifice himself for everyone. Natsu swore to himself that he would never let anyone die on his watch, especially not Gray.

That was normal, it was all Natsu ever really wanted out of Gray. For them to be friends forever. He would never abandon Gray and he knew the other felt the same.

"Hey, is Gray sick or something?" Lucy asked.

Natsu looked up from the table, face stuffed with food. He mumbled something in answer, but it was barely audible with the amount of food in his mouth. Lucy gave him a quizzical look. Erza crossed her legs and took a careful sip from her teacup. "Gray usually leaves around this time of year for a certain event. We have no idea where he goes, and we don't ask about it."

Juvia gasped loudly and dramatically, then started crying. "D-Do you think Gray-sama is going to visit a girlfriend?" she asked.

Natsu laughed, choking down the rest of his food. "Nope! Definitely not! That bastard is terrible with girls, trust me. There's no way he would have a girlfriend without me knowing about her!"

Erza side-eyed him. "Do you know where he goes then?"

Natsu opened his mouth to respond, froze, then let his jaw drop to the ground. Erza laughed. "See? It's not that big of a deal anyways. Gray can do what he wants on his own time and it's none of our business."

Natsu huffed, crossing his arms and pouting like a child. "I mean... it would be nice if he could tell us, or at least me since I'm his best friend and all..."

Mirajane bonked him on the head. "Natsu! Gray doesn't have to tell you or anyone anything about his personal life he doesn't want to!" she scolded.

"WhY dId YoU hIt Me?!" Natsu screeched.

Everyone else laughed at his suffering and Natsu just puffed out his cheeks. "You know what?! I'm gonna go find Gray!" he announced, standing up.

Happy jumped on his head. "Ooh, yay, adventure!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "You're just asking for Gray to beat your ass!" she called after him.

"Don't care!" Natsu called right back.

So that's what he did, packed up his things (not very much), grabbed Happy, and went over to the town that he knew Gray went to every year for this event. After two hours of sickening train travel, he eventually arrived in the town and started walking around. Absolutely nothing looked familiar, which should've been expected, but that didn't stop Natsu. He asked around if anyone had seen Gray.

"Have you seen a dark-haired stripper anywhere? Part of the Fairy Tail guild, kinda cocky, nearly never has a shirt on?"

At first, nobody knew him, then around nighttime Natsu eventually found his answer.

The sun had set and the stars were out, Natsu was getting tired but he was determined to find his friend. He and Happy had split up to cover more ground and were supposed to meet at the train station at midnight if they couldn't find him by then.

Natsu heard really loud voices, he turned around and saw a bunch of people in colourful clothing walking into a bar. Well... talking a little food break never hurt anyone. 

He opened the door of the bar and was immediately overwhelmed but all the colour. People were decked out in rainbow gear from top to bottom. He saw guys in drag, girls in suits, most of the people were wearing some kind of rainbow makeup and there was a karaoke machine at the stage in the middle.

Well, this was certainly interesting. He wondered what kind of event was going on. He kind of wanted to join everyone.

Natsu weaved through the crowd trying to find a place to sit and eat, but then suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen and everything in between!"

People cheered and it almost covered up the fact that Natsu _knew_ that voice.

He looked up on the stage to see a man with dark hair, shirt off, a rainbow flag around his shoulders, and those same colours painted on his face over his nose like a scar.

Gray was up on the karaoke stage. _Gray fucking Fullbuster_.

Natsu was completely awestruck, he had absolutely no idea what to do in that moment. Was this the 'special event' that Gray went to every year? There was no way... right? This... this wasn't his kind of vibe at all?

Gray took the microphone and the music started playing, Natsu didn't recognize the song, but everything was drowned out by his friend's singing voice. He sounded so... _confident_. Which was weird to think that Gray wasn't actually that type of person but he was actually pretty reserved and fairly emotionally distant from people he wasn't close too. But here? A fucking KING and the stage was his THRONE.

Natsu was way too invested to even notice when Gray saw him too. And when he did everything stopped. Gray stopped singing, his smile disappeared, and he stared at Natsu in absolute horror. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Then Gray started _booking it_ towards him. Natsu was way too frozen to do anything so when Gray wrapped his arms around him almost protectively and growled, "What the fuck are you doing here?" he didn't know how to reply.

Natsu swallowed. "I... should be asking you the same thing!" he said, pulling Gray away from him. "What the hell man?! Is this where you've been all this time?! And who are these people?! I need answers now or I'll turn you to ashes faster than you can say 'I'm fucked'!"

Gray shushed him by covering his mouth with his hand. He looked around, then dropped his hand to grab Natsu's. "Come with me. There's something I need to tell you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 will be longer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gray is gay in this because I'm tired.

Apparently, this club had a hotel section too.

Because the next thing Natsu knew he was being practically dragged upstairs and pushed into the room where he promptly fell on his ass while Gray slammed the door shut.

"Why the hell are you here?" he asked.

Natsu glared at him. "Because you disappear around this time every fucking year for what?! To sing karaoke like a goddamn angel and hang around a million and a half people covered in rainbows?!"

Gray facepalmed. "You really don't understand what kind of place this is, do you?"

Natsu puffed his cheeks out. "Of course I do, Ice Princess."

"Then tell me, what is this place?"

Silence. Natsu didn't know what this place was, he had no idea what the reason was behind the rainbows. He had no clue whatsoever why Gray was freaking out so much. No earthly way of understanding why Gray left every year for _this._ "Fine, ya got me. What is this place?"

Gray was quiet for a spell, then it wrapped the flag around his shoulders around him like a blanket. "This place is a Gay Bar, and they are celebrating for pride month, because it's June."

Natsu cocked his head, giving Gray a completely dumbfounded look. Gray sighed loudly and dramatically. "You know what Gay means, right? You know what the LGBTQ+ community is, right?"

"Shut up, I know what being Gay means," Natus replied, standing up. "Gay means attracted to the same gender as you identify as, and I know that the LGBTQ+ community _exists_ , but I don't understand all of the branches of it. I still support it. And I'm probably part of it but I don't have a label."

Gray seemed surprised by that. "Wait, really?"

Natsu crossed his arms. "Bitch, gender doesn't matter to me anymore. But I don't need to _label_ it as anything. What about you?"

"What about me?" Gray asked, almost threatened.

"Who do you like?"

Gray seemed very shocked by that, and immediately Natsu kind of regretted asking. He wasn't an expert on all of this stuff, but Gray was clearly having a hard time expressing all of this to him, and he didn't want to make him feel like he was in a position that made him uncomfortable but-

"Boys..." Gray mumbled. "I like... boys..."

Well... that certainly caught Natsu by surprise. "Okay," he replied. "Okay cool. That's cool."

He walked over to the bed in the room and sat down, lifting his legs up to cross them over each other. "Take your time."

Gray didn't say anything after that, jeez there was a lot of awkward silences here. But he did walk over and hug Natsu. Natsu hugged his friend back. "Didn't think you were such a touchy person." he joked.

"I'm not normally..." Gray released him and stepped back. "Okay... I owe you an explanation, but you _cannot_ tell anyone in the guild about it, okay? It's my secret and I get to decide when to share it, okay?"

"Yeah, dude, of course. I gotchu." Natus replied, shooting him finger guns. 

Gray smiled and took a deep breath. "Well... when I first realized I was attracted to guys I wasn't sure how exactly to feel about it. It was weird because I remember Lyon always bitching about getting a girlfriend and all of Ur's friends told her to get a boyfriend. I thought that society was centered around boy-girl relationships and that for some reason I was broken. But I wasn't... and when I finally got the guts to tell Ur about it she told me that no matter what I was still her student, she accepted me and taught me that I'm not the only one that feels this way.

"Eventually, I just grew up understanding I was fine the way I was. Girls just didn't do it for me, but showing attraction for guys is hard, especially with..." he cleared his throat. "When I was finished with a mission I was coming back and needed a place to rest. It was around this time of year and there was a nearby bar, _this_ bar, that was hosting a party. That's when it really sunk in that there were so many others like me."

He laughed. "I feel like I can be myself around the people here, is that dumb?"

"What?! Dude, no of course not!" Natsu said, standing up. "Listen, bro, you don't need to explain yourself at all. And I'm sure the others at the guild would accept you too! I don't see any reason they wouldn't." he pounded his fist into his open palm. "And if they don't I'll give them the ye ol' smack-down!"

Gray laughed again. "Ah jeez, you're really stupid sometimes, you know that, right? But I appreciate it."

Natsu smiled. "So does that mean you like anyone in the guild?"

Immediately Gray flushed red and looked away. "Why do you ask?"

"Cause I'm curious now tell me who you like!" Natsu smirked, finally he was going to get decent blackmail.

"No!" Gray shouted.

Natsu jumped over, attempting to tackle him, and when Gray side-stepped him he just kept jumping, until he finally caught him and fell with him onto the bed, pinning his arms above his head, Gray rolled them but Natsu just rolled right back until he had Gray properly pinned. "Ya gonna tell me or what?"

Gray looked over at the wall, not making eye contact with Natsu. "Not in a million years." he huffed.

"Aw, c'mon."

"No."

"Do I know him?"

"Are we seriously playing this game?"

"Yes! Now answer the damn question!"

Gray still refused to look Natsu in the eye, but he just sighed dramatically. "Okay, fine. Yes, you know him."

"Is he in our guild?" Natsu asked next.

"Yeah."

"What's his magic type?"

Gray mumbled something. Natsu made a face, switching Gray's arms into one hand and grabbing his face with his now free hand, turning it to him. "Hey, tell me."

Gray swallowed. "Dragonslayer," he replied.

"Sting?"

"Nope."

"Rouge?"

"Nah."

"Gajeel? Y'know he's dating Levy."

"Gross, no."

Natsu released him and sat back, only barely registering now that he had been straddling Gray. "I swear to god if it's Laxus-"

"You idiot, it's you!"

The entire world completely paused at that. Gray slapped a hand over his mouth, shocked at the words that fell past his lips. Natsu blinked, then relaxed, then snorted, which turned into giggling, which turned into all-out laughter.

"Why are you laughing?!" Gray shouted, sitting up. "It's not a damn joke!"

"I know! I know!" Natsu replied, still cackling with laughter. "I know you mean it, but it's just so damn funny to me!"

Gray's expression softened, and he raked his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry..." he mumbled.

Natsu seemed to have calmed down from his laughter spurt. "For what?" he asked.

"I know... you're not interested in me. We can pretend this never happened if you want."

Natsu rolled his eyes and grabbed Gray's face, squishing his cheeks between his hands. "Hey, I didn't say that. I just thought it was weird that you'd like me when I thought you hated me."

Gray shook his head. "I don't hate you... in fact, I've considered you as a friend for a long time," he replied, voice a bit distorted from Natsu squishing his cheeks together. "I don't know why I like you I just do."

Natsu cocked his head. Gray's face was tinged pink and he looked like he really meant what he was saying. Natsu made a face, then leaned in, harshly pressing their lips together. Gray made a muffled sound of surprise and Natsu let go. Gray immediately pushed him off of the bed and crawled back. "What the hell, man?!" he yelled. "You trying to mess with my feelings?!"

"What? No." Natsu replied, standing up and crawling on the bed, getting closer to Gray again. "I just... UGH, this is so hard to express into words!" he rubbed his head with his hands. "Listen, I'm willing to give this a shot if you are."

"Give what a shot?"

"Us."

Gray's eyes widened a fraction and his mouth fell open. Natsu smiled and held his face again, one hand going to the back of his neck and sinking his fingers into dark locks. "I'm willing to give a relationship a chance. I wanna see how it would go."

"Oh..." Gray spoke softly, closing his eyes in unison with Natsu's as they kissed again, this time lasting longer, and was much sweeter than before.

Yeah... Natsu could get used to this.

.

.

.

"Natsu?" Happy yelled out as he walked around the train station. "Jeez... where could that guy be? Did he find Gray or what?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna write more Fairy Tail shit. :>
> 
> Wanna put this out here... I actually don't like the trope of "I've been in love with you all this time let's go out" unless it's specifically mutual pinning through a slow burn that shows both perspectives of a situation and it comes out of nowhere, there are very few exceptions to this rule. So I decided to go the route of "One is in love and the other is willing to try out a relationship", hope you enjoyed.
> 
> As always, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!!!


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